Wilson e



(No Model.)

W. E. PORTER.

ALARM CLOCK.

Patented Oct. 11,189Zr 111: may: Penna cc, moTo-m'mx, mummwu, n, c, I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILSON E. PORTER, OF NE? HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEV HAVENCLOCK COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ALARM-CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,236, dated October1 1, 1892.

Application filed May 31, 1892.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILSON E. PORTER, of New Haven, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Inn 5 provement inAlarm-Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,

to and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure l, a view in front elevation of the time mechanism of aneight-day clock containing my invention; Fig. 2, a view thereof [5 invertical section on the line a b of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a similar view ofthe time mechanism of a tWenty-four-hour clock containing my invention;Fig. et, a detached view, in front elevation, of the cone of themechanism shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a detached view, in side elevation,to show the elevated position of the inner end of the lever M just afterthe cone has been jumped forward consequent upon being released by thepresentation of the drop of the cam-sleeve F to the pin E which isdriven by the movement; Fig. 6, a similar view showing the depressedposition of the inner end of the said lever when the cone is pushed backby the action of the said pin 0 upon the cam-sleeve.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of alarm-clocks inwhich the alarm mechanism is organized independently of the timemechanism which releases it through the 3 5 medium of a wire or cord,forming their only connection,the object being to produce a devicesimple and durable in construction, adapted to be set not only withcase, but also so as to go off on the minute instead of somewhere abouta predetermined time, which is an objection to many of the alarnrclocksnow in use.

With these ends in view my invention consists in an alarm-clock havingcertain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will behereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the hand A, by which thealarm is set, is se- Serial No. 434,857. (No model.)

cured to the outer end of a sleeve C, frictionally mounted within thecentral opening of the dial B and made sufficiently large to clear thesocket D of the hour-wheel D of the time mechanism. As shown in the saidfigures of the drawings, the dial is provided with a concentricalarm-dial B, graduated in some approved manner that will readily e11-able the hand A to be set as desired. I have shown the said dial B,graduated from 1 to 12 and from l to 12 again; but this graduation maygive way to any other found to be more convenient; or, if preferred, thehand A may be made long enough to be set in conjunction with the regulargraduations of the dial. As shown in the said figures of the drawings,the inner end of the sleeve C is furnished with a pinion E, which meshesinto a wheel E, having a sleeve E carrying a radially-arranged pin E Thesaid hand, pinion, wheel, sleeve, and pin are normally at rest, beingmoved only when the hand is manually adjusted. In this respect the handA, by which the alarm is set, is different from the alarm-dialextensively employed heretofore for setting alarm mechanisms and mountedupon the socket of the hour-wheel, and therefore rotating therewith. Thesaid pin E co-operates with the camedge of a sleeve-cam F, which iscombined with a wheel G and a cone H, the said wheel G being rotatedonce in every twenty-four hours, and thereto meshing into a pinion I ofhalf its number of teeth, mounted on the socket D of the hour'wheel D,before mentioned. The combined sleeve-cam, wheel, and cone are mountedupon a stud J, having bearing in the front plate K of the movement, andalso supporting the wheel E. A spiral spring L, interposed between theouter face of the said plate and the cone H, exerts a constant effort tomove the described combined part laterally on the stud J and force theedge of the cam-sleeve F into contact with the pin The said cone H isengaged by the inner end of the lifting-leverM, which is pivoted to thesaid movement-plate by a pivot M and connected by a wire N, attached toits outer end, with the alarm mechanism, which may be of any approvedconstruction, but which isnot shown herein.

By employing a cone to co-operate with the lifting-lever it will beapparent that the character of their engagement is made entirelyindependent of the position of the cam-sleeve and pin. In this respectmy invention is to be distinguished from prior alarm mechanisms in whichthe lifting-lever has been engaged with the edge of a snail-cam, whichas it is rotated presents an irregular edge to the said lifting-lever.

In operating my improved alarm mechanism as above constructed the hand Ais set by means of the inner or outer circle of graduations on the dial,whereby the pin E is changed in position with relation to the edge ofthe cam-sleeve F,driven by the time mechanism. W'hen now the said timemechanism brings the drop of the cam-sleeve under the pin, the spring Lwill throw the combined part forward and permitthe inner end of thelifting-lever to rise, whereby its outer end falls and releases thealarm mechanism.

The foregoing description applies to the application of my invention tothat class of alarm-clocks which with one winding sound the alarm for aplurality of days, and which therefore require that the alarm bereleased only once in twenty-four hours, wherefore the cone must belocated to one side of the center arbor of the clock. To this class ofclocks belong, for instance, eight-day alarmst'. 12., clocks that alarmeight successive days without rewinding. On the other hand,inadapting myinvention to one-day alarms-that is, alarms that only go off once foronewindingand whether applied to clocks that run one, eight, or anyother number of days, the cone is mounted on the center arbor and isrotated once in twelve hours. In the class of clocks last mentioned thatis no objection, as the alarm runsdown in one sounding, so that thetripping of the alarm after it has once gone off is of no effect unlessit has been wound. In these clocks care must of course be used insetting and winding the alarm, so that it will not go off too soon andin the early-evening instead of the early-morning hours. A clock of thisclass is shown by Figs. 3 and l of the drawings. The alarm is set byalarge hand 0, secured to the outer end of a camsleeve 0', frictionallymounted in the central opening of the dial and made large enough toclear the socketPof the hour-wheel, which is not shown, the inner end ofthe said sleeve being cammed. The cone Q, which is mounted on the centerarbor with a capacity for lateral movement thereon, has an annularrecess Q formed in its outer face, as shown by Fig. at of the drawings,to receive the inner end of the said cam-sleeve, a pin (1 being lo catedwithin the said recess to cooperate with the said end of the sleeve.AcollarR, mounted on the socketPof the hour-wheel and having bearingagainst the outer face of the front movement-plate S, is furnished witha forwardly-projeoting pin R, which enters an opening 0", formed in thecone, whereby the cone and collar are coupled together for the rotationof the former with the said socket. A spring T, interposed between thecollar and cone, moves the same laterally 011 the socket and keeps itspin Q in engagement with the cammed edge of the sleeve 0. Thisconstruction also calls for a lifting-lever correspondin g to the levershown in Fig. 1, but not shown in this figure. As the operation of thismodified construction is the same in principle as the operation alreadydescribed, it will not be detailed.

A11 alarm mechanism having a hand is very much more readily set than analarm mechanism employing a dial-wheel, which must be grasped by thetips of the fingers, and is so tightly frictioned upon the socket of thehourwheel that itturns with difficulty. Moreover, a much closer settingof the mechanism may be secured by means of a hand than by means of awheel which it is difficult to turn so as to bring any figure upon itinto exact alignment with any graduation upon the face of the dial.

In the construction shown by Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the pin isconnected with the alarm setting hand, while the sleeve cam, whichco-operates with the pin, is driven by the time mechanism. It will beobserved, on the other hand, thatin the construction shown by Figs. 3and 4; of the drawings the pin is driven by the time mechanism and thesleevecam connected with the hand. It will thus be seen that a reversalof those parts in position does not affect my invention. I wouldtherefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exactconstruction herein shown and described, but hold myself at liberty tomake such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit andscope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure byLetters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a time mechanism and a dial, of a handfrictionally mounted in the central opening of the latter, a cone drivenby the said mechanism and movable on its shaft, a pivotal lifting-leverengaging with the said cone, a sleeve-cam, a pin to cooperate therewith,one being connected with the said cone and the other with the said hand,and a spring for moving the cone in one direction on its shaft,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a time mechanism and a dial, of ahandfrictionally mounted in the central opening of the latter, a pinionconnected with the said hand, a wheel. meshing into the said pinion andconstructed with a sleeve carrying a radially-arranged pin, a

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscrib- 1o ing witnesses.

VILSON E. PORTER.

Vitnesses:

FRED C. EARLE, GEORGE D. SEYMOUR.

